Airline Livery and Airline Branding: Part 5

Over the past two months we’ve examined commercial airline branding and its impact on airline livery. We’ve seen some horrible, incongruous designs (China Southern Airlines), outdated looks (American Airlines) and liveries that were just plain bland and unimaginative (Air France). We’ve also come down pretty hard on airlines that disregard national identities (Lufthansa) and those that just, for whatever reason, never quite got the branding right, let alone the livery (All Nippon Airways).

Now that those sixteen featured airline liveries are behind us, what does work for distinctive, unique airline livery and airline branding? The four commercial airlines in the last part of our series offer a glimpse at how airline liveries and corporate identities can successfully merge to create a unique and unifying brand identity.

Air Canada livery
Canada’s largest airline and their flag carrier, Air Canada’s branding has improved dramatically since its latest makeover in 2004. The old planes flew with Canada’s distinctive red maple leaf, but the symbol appeared somewhat surprisingly on an all-black tail - not one of air travel’s more flattering colors.

The new scheme features a light blue body with a gradient effect on the tail. The familiar red maple leaf appears twice, once on the body of the plane alongside “Air Canada” and again, more prominently, on the tail. The total effect looks more stunning from a distance - tending to look pixelated up close - and the Air Canada logo could use some modernisation, but for the most part this livery is exceptional. The color scheme is a new take on traditional red and blue whilst simultaneously evoking striking images of Canada, with its snowy mountains and ubiquitous maple leaf symbol.

Air Canada branding grade: A-

easyJet livery
Why do we love easyJet? There is nothing particularly beautiful or artistic about their orange planes and Comic Sans font, but they’ll get a high grade from us.

It has to do with the combination of branding and how that translates to an airliner’s livery. easyJet, for better or worse, has turned orange into a corporate color, and on that basis alone their planes would stand out. But their livery takes it a step further. The planes contain a prominent easyJet logo on the body as well as an orange tail and a repeat of the logo on the tail. Thankfully, they have moved away from the gigantic phone number livery they were using when no one had heard of them; that’s going too far.

We’ll mark them off a bit for the simplicity of it all (anyone with Microsoft Word could have come up with that font and that color) but travelers know easyJet immediately, something that cannot be said for generic Eurowhite planes like Air France or generic brands like Delta.

easyJet branding grade: A-

Southwest Airlines livery
Amidst all the Eurowhite and plain, outdated liveries, if you can’t identify a Southwest plane in the sky, you’re doing something wrong. Southwest’s original livery was a strange tan and red concoction that, like colored bathroom suites, is no longer en vogue. But you can’t blame them for not being different.

Now Southwest Airlines’ livery is even better. The planes have blue bodies with thick, sweeping stripes in red and orange. Each stripe is accent with tan pinstripes, and the all of the stripes run along the underbelly of the plane and then swing back up to make a three-striped tail. The colors also extend to the winglets and engines, and “Southwest” is printed diagonally on the tail. It’s a dramatic presentation, and one that people either love or hate but surely can’t mistake.

The beauty in Southwest’s livery, however, is in its ability to accommodate “themed” paint jobs. Southwest operates many themed aircraft, including planes painted in the style of state flags, sports commemoratives, and SeaWorld’s Shamu. By having the logo and all three colors on the tail section, the rest of the body is freed up to execute each theme. The result is that each special paint job looks as seamless and streamlined as the rest of the Southwest fleet, while still maintaining SWA’s identity.

If there is one fault with Southwest Airlines’ livery and branding it is that the blue looks a shade washed out, but even that can’t keep them from receiving top marks in an industry obsessed with tradition and Eurowhite.

Southwest Airlines branding grade: A

United Airlines livery
Our airline branding reports has been pretty damning for US airlines, with outdated looks abound. So when we got to United Airlines, imagine our surprise when we liked what we saw!

Throughout its corporate history, United has shown itself to be a company prepared to change marketing and branding tactics; what worked in 1930 may not work today, and they accept that. United Airlines have been using an overlapping “U” logo since the 1970s, but even that has been adapted for today’s tastes. The “U” appears on the tail of United Airlines’ jets in thin blue stripes over a white tail. It’s subtle, artsy, and can even be missed at first glance - just what branding ought to be.

The rest of the United Airlines’ livery has a white top with a blue bottom on the body, separated by a blue gradient in the middle. This gradient is picked up and featured again on the winglets (an immensely popular design feature these days) and the engines are also painted blue. “United” appears on the body section in black, with the more conventional “U” logo next to it.

It sounds so simple, and yet the effect is unified and perfect - not too much and not too little. United made this livery change fairly recently, replacing a very old grey and navy scheme straight out of last century. And we’re so glad they did. The blue is perfect modern choice and the gradient makes it look better than other “corporate blues” out there.

United Airlines branding grade: A

Follow the other installments of our “Airline Livery and Airline Branding” investigative series: